A social impact endeavor is a vast undertaking. It requires various leadership competencies, and a strong knowledge of the responsibilities it entails. I chose to start SOAR because I wanted a leadership experience that would stretch my horizons in every direction. One of my primary research questions focused on how social impact work affects the leader. I wanted to learn about how I can grow as a leader. I also seeked out experiences I could use to become a more versatile individual. I have been fortunate to serve in leadership positions, but I noticed that there are various areas of growth for me. I wanted to explore transformative leadership and use it to apply new skills in other endeavors. The individual research agenda I built has been instrumental in gaining scholastic knowledge about how transformative leadership can change me. I have also used my time as a director at SOAR to learn about how I can empower others. I also wanted to learn about how their feedback helps me adapt in different situations. I believe a leader has a vast skill set and can adjust their methods to fit what the organization and its members need. 

    The first article I read was “Leading to Make a Difference” by Nicola Belle. This work breaks down transformational leadership into 4 dimensions: inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Belle describes motivation as articulating an appealing vision of the future and intellectual stimulation as questioning old assumptions and analyzing problems from new perspectives. I really liked that she added individualized consideration. As a leader, it’s important to celebrate members for their individual contributions. I make it a point to thank the person by name and point out their work towards a larger goal at SOAR meetings and in our group chat. A noteworthy quote was “Putting followers and leaders in the situation of persuading themselves and others, reinforces their passion for the project” (Belle,pg.113). The article also describes a social experiment conducted with nurses assembling essential kits in an Italian hospital. The results indicated that nurses who undertook transformational leadership measures could articulate why the program benefits lives. Other nurses made points on how to persuade others to support the venture. This shows that making people see the bigger picture and connecting with others to persuade them on the cause’s importance makes them more invested in the effort. The final portion I found helpful was Nicola Belle’s emphasis on developing metrics of success. She used surveys to determine Public Service Motivation (PSM), counted the number of kits produced in an hour, and a questionnaire for the nurses. I liked this because one of SOAR’s greatest areas for improvement is having a concise timeline with measurable indicators of success. I think the concept of asking members about their experience would also be valuable, because it provides more context of what steps can be taken to enhance their leadership growth. Another metric of success for SOAR could be the number of visits we make per semester, or number of activities planned. 

    The 2nd article I found impactful was “The effects of transformational leadership on…social identity.” I chose this article because I had never fully reflected on what my social identity was before starting SOAR. The author breaks social identification down into a cognition aspect (cognitive social identification), affective aspect (emotional social identification), and evaluation aspect (evaluative social identification). I thought this was interesting because combining cognitive, emotional, and evaluative parts of social identity gives me a chance to realize that they play equally important roles in developing social consciousness. The article also mentions social identity theory. It states that the key proposal is that it is the extent to which people identify with a particular social group that determines their inclination to behave in terms of their group membership. I feel this is very relevant to my time at SOAR. I developed a name and slogan that encapsulates our mission. We put the slogan on the first slide of every meeting to make members feel more connected to it. We also end every meeting by saying the slogan to inspire an emotional connection between the members and SOAR. These are positive steps, but I believe the emotional and evaluative piece can be developed more within the organization. Having accountability checks, putting a consolidated system in place about milestones, and celebrating individual accomplishments are all steps I look forward to implementing. I mentioned previously how I felt that providing micro-affirmations strengthened team culture. I am passionate about creating a culture where there is a camaraderie among members, and that translates to a more effective work system. I also want us to be able to connect as individuals that are taking on really meaningful work, meant to make us more socially conscious and impactful. 

The article also gave me advice that I want to start becoming more cognizant of: “By encouraging followers to seek new ways to approach problems and challenges and identifying with followers’ needs, transformational leaders are able to motivate their followers to become more involved in their work, resulting in higher levels of affective commitment.” When we develop activities, I encourage various opinions and provide my own input sometimes. The quote reminds me to also empathize with their needs when coming up with activities. I can take a moment to ask members if they have experiences in such settings they would want to replicate or avoid. I can connect with members by asking them how they would feel if participating in the activity, rather than facilitating. I think that organic feedback loop would help us maintain creativity. 

In my experience, I found that connecting each step to a bigger goal generated more buy-in from members. In a meeting, I spoke about how the chain of information allows us to make a visit successful. I mentioned how having a strong basis from R-Squad about the competencies we want to hit structures activity planning. From here, E-Squad can offer thoughts on how logistics work for the activity and help us make any changes. O-Squad can add perspective on how SOAR members will feel valued through content creation featuring them. Once the activity is developed, T-Squad can calculate expenses for us. This also helps us budget future activities. Finally, everyone comes together to create a great activity. Directors can present the final activity to our community partner. This resonated deeply because I saw A-Squad and R-Squad collaborate more- A-Squad took time to recognize the value of debrief questions, and R-Squad appreciated a unique approach to teaching leadership competencies. 

As I grow into a stronger leader, I want to combine my experiences at SOAR and the research I have done. Being able to read academic work on this topic helps me align goals for myself with the actions I am currently taking. It allows me to identify areas of growth. I can also work to create personal indicators of success and with peers to cultivate organization-wide metrics of success.